Editing Fort Detrick (section)

====Post-war years (1946–55)====
The elaborate security precautions taken at Camp Detrick were so effective that it was not until January 1946, four months after [[VJ Day]] that the public learned of the war-time research in biological weapons.<ref>Clendenin (1968), ''Op. Cit.''</ref>

In 1952, the Army purchased over {{convert|500|acre|ha}} more of land located between West 7th Street and Oppossumtown Pike to expand the permanent research and development facilities.

Two workers at the base died from exposure to anthrax in the 1950s. Another died in 1964 from [[viral encephalitis]].<ref name="washingtonpost.com">Davis, Aaron, Michael E. Ruane and Nelson Hernandez, "[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/01/AR2008080101616.html Lab And Community Make For Uneasy Neighbors]", ''[[Washington Post]]'', August 2, 2008, Pg. 10.</ref>

There was a building on the base, [[Building 470]], locally referred to as "[[Anthrax]] Tower". Building 470 was a pilot plant for testing optimal fermentor and bacterial purification technologies. The information gained in this pilot plant shaped the fermentor technology that was ultimately used by the pharmaceutical industry to revolutionize the production of antibiotics and other drugs. Building 470 was torn down in 2003 without any adverse effects on the demolition workers or the environment. The facility acquired the nickname "Fort Doom" while offensive biological warfare research was undertaken there. 5,000 bombs containing anthrax spores were produced at the base during World War II.<ref name="washingtonpost.com"/>

From 1945 to 1955 under [[Project Paperclip]] and its successors, the U.S. government recruited over 1,600 [[German people|German]] and [[Austrian people|Austrian]] scientists and engineers in a variety of fields such as aircraft design, missile technology and biological warfare. Among the specialists in the latter field who ended up working in the U.S. were [[Walter Schreiber]], [[Erich Traub]] and [[Kurt Blome]], who had been involved with medical experiments on concentration camp inmates to test biological warfare agents. Since Britain, France and the Soviet Union were also engaged in recruiting these scientists, the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency (JIOA) wished to deny their services to other powers, and therefore altered or concealed the records of their Nazi past and involvement in war crimes.<ref>Peter Knight, Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia, Volume One. ABC-CLIO, 2003.</ref>